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Former television executive to discuss TV's role in presidential elections, March 6

Posted March 1, 2002; 05:50 p.m.

by tbartus

Plissner, former executive political director of CBS-TV News and author of "The Control Room: How Television Calls the Shots in Presidential Elections," will present a lecture at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, in Bowl 1, Robertson Hall. His address is titled "Television and the Making of the President in 2000: Lessons for the Next Round."

Plissner served as the executive political director at CBS News from 1980 to 1997. He joined CBS in 1963 and for three decades witnessed the behind-the-scenes decisions that determine how television networks cover presidential campaigns. In his book, he suggests that presidential elections have become a staged event in response to media coverage, and that television executives do not cover elections based on a political agenda, but on the goal of reaching the highest possible viewership and gaining the competitive edge over network rivals.

The lecture is offered in conjunction with an undergraduate task force on "Designing American Electoral Reform" at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs taught by Assistant Professor Joshua Tucker. It is sponsored by the
Woodrow Wilson School
.